- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Ulverscroft Large Print Books Ltd; Large type edition edition (Sep 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1847823610
- ISBN-13: 978-1847823618
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 14.8 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,113,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Well-Tempered Clavier
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'This is a charming and uplifting book.' --Piers Morgan
'Charming, moving, uplifting. Why can't all love stories be like this?' --Tunku Varadarajan, The Wall Street Journal
'Elegantly structured, tinglingly evocative of the passion and brutality of first love - a wonderful read.' --Louise Candlish --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
'Charming, moving, uplifting. Why can't all love stories be like this?' --Tunku Varadarajan, The Wall Street Journal
'Elegantly structured, tinglingly evocative of the passion and brutality of first love - a wonderful read.' --Louise Candlish --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Product Description
Seventeen-year-old schoolboy Kim is an idle drifter at one of Britain's most extraordinary institutions, Eton College - crammed with over a thousand boys and not a girl in sight. His head is full of the Falklands War and a possible army career, until the day he hears his new piano teacher, the beautiful but pained India, playing Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. Kim's life is destined never to be the same again. An intensely passionate affair develops and he wallows in the wild and unaccustomed thrill of first love. Twenty-five years on, Kim recalls that heady summer and how their fledgling relationship was so brutally snuffed out - finished off by his enemies, by the constraints of Eton, and by his own withering jealousy. "The Well-Tempered Clavier" is the bittersweet story of a life-changing love.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This delightful novel marks Bill Coles' transition from successful journalist to fledgling author. My guess is that it might also be his first foray into providing screenplay material because it simply asks to be up on the big screen. If you like your books by Nick, your films by Richard, your diaries by Bridget and your heroines by Keira you will be happy to spend a few hours racing through this engaging tale in the company of a deep sofa, liquid refreshment appropriate for the hour of day and your adoring dog/cat/hamster curled on a rug at your feet. Coles is smart enough to know that Eton usually provokes a response (for good or ill) and now the mildly or wildly curious can glimpse life for the average inmate. He's also good at playing amusing games with his readers, stirring enough truth from his own life into the fictional mix to get us wondering about where Kim starts and Bill ends. The core of this book is the author's sensitive and lucid description of the intimacy which gradually develops between Kim and his piano teacher, India. Through it we are reminded that what we see on the surface often belies what is beneath. Kim begins the narrative by telling us that he is 'not given to emotion'. It is no accident that his last word is of love.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is good fun. It gives a hilarious protrayal of the love angst of a boy in his late teens trying to engage with the fairer sex. Being at an all male boarding school, it is all totally beyond his experience. The author brings out beautifully the excitement of discovering this virgin territory. The passages describing how the hero, even though being in the throes of the love affair of his life, interacts with other available women, made me laugh out loud. And if you've ever wondered what life at Eton is like, this is a great insider view. Although a romp, the book isn't just frivolous. By the end, you have been drawn in and feel like you've been punched in the stomach. It's written, as you might expect from former Sun journalist, in a way that grabs your attention and keeps you turning the pages. I hope there will be more from this author.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Steamy love stories can be difficult to pull off, but William Coles certainly knows a thing or two about romance. The story is set at Eton, where schoolboy Kim has a passionate affair with his piano teacher India, who for some reason seems to wear nothing but white clothes, and - as most of their lusty romps take place outside - it's a wonder she can find time to prepare her piano classes in between washing the grass stains out of her frocks. The love making scenes are in plentiful supply and are written not only with warmth and sensitivity but are pretty damn happy too.
Jealousy, rejection, suspense and lust are all here and used to great effect. The details of Etonian life are fascinating and provide a great backdrop for a story that keeps you on the edge with twists and turns in every chapter and guessing to the very last sentence.
This book is 'based on a true story' and the reader can't help but wonder if it is about a future UK Prime Minister or a tousled blonde mayor of London in waiting...
I would recommend this book to women who are bored with chick lit and like their romance served up with wit, intelligence and lashings of sex on the side. Men should read it if they would like a few tips.
Needless to say, every schoolboy should own a copy.
Jealousy, rejection, suspense and lust are all here and used to great effect. The details of Etonian life are fascinating and provide a great backdrop for a story that keeps you on the edge with twists and turns in every chapter and guessing to the very last sentence.
This book is 'based on a true story' and the reader can't help but wonder if it is about a future UK Prime Minister or a tousled blonde mayor of London in waiting...
I would recommend this book to women who are bored with chick lit and like their romance served up with wit, intelligence and lashings of sex on the side. Men should read it if they would like a few tips.
Needless to say, every schoolboy should own a copy.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Sincere, suspenseful but ultimately too shallow
This book deserves one star for the tenderness and obvious sincerity with which Coles describes his 17-year-old hero's love affair with his 23-year-old piano teacher. Read more
Published on 25 May 2009 by A. J. Barber
Credibility challenge
Eton College, possibly the most famous school in the world, has seen fit to invite a glamorous, sexy, willing young woman onto its staff. Read more
Published on 16 May 2008 by The Accompanist
Stunning
Not one who usually indulges in the romance genre - I have to confess that the Well-Tempered Clavier left me shell-shocked. Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2008 by Sparky
Everyone can relate to this
I started this book on the flight into the Falkland Islands so was delighted to see it is set in the summer of 1982 when the war is in full swing. Read more
Published on 27 Nov 2007 by A. J. Dinsdale
The most touching and tender love story - one of the best I have read!
This is a brilliant, tender evocation of teenage love, lust and angst told against the background of one of our greatest public schools, Eton. Read more
Published on 27 Nov 2007 by George Metcalfe
Love story with a theme tune
A well-written, beautifully observed page turner providing an intriguing glimpse into the other-worldliness of Eton. Sit back and enjoy! Off to buy the music...
Published on 15 Nov 2007 by Karen
The Pianos of Madison County
A romping, yomping sheet-tangler that's got "Movie Script" written all over it. Keira Knightley IS India, and all the tousle-haired young dudes will be tussling over who gets to... Read more
Published on 9 Nov 2007 by Loki
A grown up story about teenage love
Set in the strange environment of an all boys school at the time of the Falkland's war, this is an atmospheric story of a dangerous romance between a pupil and his female piano... Read more
Published on 7 Nov 2007 by W. MICKLETHWAIT
Toes grinding into the grass...
A lip-smacking romp of a novel. The testosterone-sodden anguish of first love from the male perspective is all too rare so thank goodness for Coles and his clear talent for... Read more
Published on 6 Nov 2007 by Ali
Funny, sad and thought-provoking
Despite not being one normally given to approaching romantic fiction with anything other than a sharp intake of breath and a heavy heart, I found myself effortlessly swept up by... Read more
Published on 5 Nov 2007 by Pitch 'n' Putt
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